My #1 of Vittinghus: A real "Kampfsau". Much entertainment and it motivates myself to go for shots which are under pressure impossible but you go and try instead of giving up. IMO Kirsten Dunst or Jan O Boringson should stay home for him to compete at the OG.
Yes I agree. Kirsten Dunst or Jan O Boringson should give their place to him. At least HKV won something nice recently and his attitude is better.
What does he have to do to become "succesful" as you say it. Win a SS? Already did that. Win WC/Olympics? He would have to improve a lot, and as he is not going to Rio (not as a player...) by the time the Tokio games start he will be 34.
Win more titles... Consistently win "the big guys", win SS titles with "the big guns" present... I am not denegrade HCV, I actually want to see him winning more.
Oh that is something I hope as well. It's just that from the post I was quoting I got the idea that blabl was expecting that HCV might be able to improve or grow to a higher level. I think he already reached his top: he is "just another top-10 player". He will never be more than that as he is 30 already. No shame in that ofcourse. And I hope more titles will follow, for sure. But if you are more realistic JOJ and Viktor Axelsen are more likely to be top 3/5 material. JOJ is more consistent, yet only 2 years younger, VA has to prove that tall guys can be true champions in badminton as well, but has many years to improve left.
If you're looking at JOJ, he's won SS and SSP. He's been ranked #2 for quite a while. Now he's won Thomas Cup as well. To be perfectly honest, there are only 3 things he could be chasing, which would improve significantly on his achievements so far: - A number #1 ranking. - A World Championship. - An Olympic gold medal (or really, an olympic medal). A possible 4th goal could be getting the AE gold, where he currently have "only" the silver. I think that (at least for European players), the AE is considered the SSP they would like to win the most. After that, it's probably Singapore, since it has a very "out of reach" kind of feeling about it for Europeans, because it's so much different from what the players experience here. But then again, JOJ has won that (as the only European ever). As you say, he's slowly running out of time. He'll have this shot at the OG, and MAYBE one more... As for the WR#1 there's a lot of contenders who are probably looking forward to LCW and LD not being in the pond anymore, which will give JOJ 2-3 years to have a very good shot at reaching that goal. As for WC, well, again the next 2-3 years will be without the OG to spoil the preparations, so that will also be his target I think. Viktor is just still young, he has so many years left at the top level, so everything is still possible for him. Perhaps he will be the person denying JOJ the WR#1, taking over from LCW and LD at a point in time where JOJ and CL is getting older... I could see CL getting into a LD approach at the final years of his career - having been a solid WR#1 he could be readjusting to chase more of the really big ones, not least the OG. Now, of course, Viktor is not the only young and upcoming player. Momota will be back, and there are a handful of other really good promising players at the age of Viktor or younger. ------ Back on topic: HKV - unfortunately - has an expirery date. Especially given his playing style, once the physique starts to decline, he'll find it difficult to beat the best. So for him, it's "just" a matter of making the most of his recent good form, and bag as many SS/SSP titles as he can, and see if perhaps he can reach WR top 5. It's sad, because I really like HKV. Not only did he play in my club, many years back, but he's just so nice and always giving so much of himself to the sport and to anyone around him. He's a pleasure to watch, and he's a pleasure to listen to when he gives interviews, etc. If there's any shread of doubt about that, as evidence you have Sundis (the Dane hater) approving of him! ;-)
I love this guy! So exciting to watch, a great ambassodor for the sport, and always behaves so well (despite being a dane). I think if he wants to last at this level he has to learn to play taking more chances. His biggest strength imo is his insane speed, but it will naturally decrease with the years. He has to learn how to win more "easy" points (and dare to play the net more), otherwise I fear his body can't keep up with his current style of play. Hu Yun and Boonsak are two players that he can learn from.
I agree that time is running out for hkv. With age catching up, it's difficult to sustain an intensive physical game, especially against top players with good defence. Hope he can make the best of his remaining playing career.
